Meets Set To Discuss Floyd Bennett Future

By Howard Schwach

Senator Charles Schumer and Representative Anthony Weiner will soon host two local meetings of the Floyd Bennett Field Blue Ribbon Panel, a task force that will establish a shared vision for the future of the park and make recommendations about how to improve the country’s third most-visited national recreation area.

The first of the two meetings will be held at 6 p.m. at the Aviator Sports Complex at Floyd Bennett Field on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, just north of the Gil Hodges Marine Parkway Bridge. The second meeting will be held at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, on Cross Bay Boulevard, just north of Broad Channel. Both meetings are scheduled through 8 p.m.

The Task Force is the result of a multi-year partnership between Regional Plan Association (RPA) and the National Parks Conservation Association to help inform the National Park Service (NPS), elected officials, and the public as NPS embarks on its revision to Gateway National Recreation Area’s General Management Plan, the guiding document for park activities in the area.

The Blue Ribbon Panel that will hear recommendations from the public is headed by Marian S. Heiskell and Deborah Shanley.

Heiskell is a former newspaper executive and a lifelong conservationaist.

Shanley spent her working life in public education. She was the dean of the School of Liberal Arts at CUNY’s Medgar Evers College.

One of the panelists is Adrian Benepe, who currently serves as the Commissioner for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.